Sharing Town and School Resources
There was a time that I remember school and town did not get along. I think some of the reasoning went like this: "If they get all the money, we won't get our stuff approved". I prefer the way things are now- everyone working for the benefit of the entire community. With that in mind, Raymond School District and Town Officials held joint meetings
to investigate sharing resources. Some of
our discussions included: Technology, Maintenance
and Facilities, Human Resources, Payroll, and contractual obligations.
Technology: Bailey Rigg, Technology Director for the
Raymond School District, discussed ways in which the school district would be
able to help the town. He met with Ernie
Creveling on several occasions to set up a timeline and what would work between
the town and school. Bailey believes
that some of the software used by the town could be phased out if the town used
google apps. He has been working with town
employees and they have been invited to school district trainings
Facilities and
Maintenance: Todd Ledoux and Steve
Brewer met with the committee to discuss areas that are already being shared as
well as ideas to continue this relationship. The following are just some of the resources that are shared between the town and school:
- Town helps with plowing the school area, and depending on the severity of the storm, school staff work collaboratively to address the circumstances.
- School helps with scheduling after school activities for recreation (the District purchased scheduling software for the town to use in this area)
- Fields, maintenance, irrigation, use and general operations need to keep the fields in good shape and used by the public
- Electricity contract, both the Town and SAU are part of an electric utility contract that enables both uses to purchase electricity at reduced rates. This contract is in place for another year.
- School District Superintendent and a combined effort of Raymond Dispatch/Raymond Police and Craig Sykes (DPW) work to address road conditions regarding a “no-school” announcement.
- There is a continual and consistent flow of equipment and staff time and cooperation between the DPW professionals and SAU staff as required. This one on one approach is the most effective and functional way that demonstrates the positive working relationship between the two public agencies.
- Summer programs and summer recreation is a shared community program that addresses the needs of Raymond Recreation and Raymond Residents. (School District purchased scheduling software for the Recreation Dept to use when scheduling events in any of the school buildings
- The SAU and building facilities hosts the Board of Selectmen meeting and all land use Board(s) meeting and public hearings.
- RCTV has invested time and money into the “studio” and necessary infrastructure (camera, microphones, etc) to be able to video, and live stream meeting and events held at the High School
- Trainings for the school custodial staff will be shared with town staff
Payroll and Finances:
School and Town Officials met to discuss Finances including
the software used by the town and the software used by the school
district. The town uses MuniSmart while
the school district uses Munis. Account
numbers would need to change if we tried to merge these two. .After
considerable research done by the SAU Finance and Business Department and the
Town's Finance Director, the cost benefit analysis to merge to one system
(MUNIS) was not a viable option. We spoke to communities who have tried to
“merge” into one operating system and their advice was NOT to move in that
direction. The costs in these cases were double what was originally anticipated and the performance
and levels of service were not sufficient to meet the needs of the various
disciplines, particularly Town Clerk/Tax Collector. The Town Clerk requires software that
integrates with the software used by the Division of Motor Vehicles- Munis does
not currently do this.
- The Town has taken advantage of the purchasing vendor for supplies associated with the SAU and continues to support that service.
Human Resources:
There was considerable discussion regarding the need by both
organizations to address the “Human Resource” requirements of each organization. Both the SAU and Town do not have highly
qualified and trained individual to serve in this capacity. There were various
concepts discussed on possible personnel solutions to address the joint need and
possible job sharing to address this need.
However the more that the job sharing concept was explored, it became
clear that the Human Resource needs of the SAU and the Town were quite
different. The final conclusion was to
seek personnel in each area and move in that direction with possible joint and
cross training in the future.
Final Summary and Conclusion:
This initiative has been beneficial from the stand point
that both Public Officials, School Board and Board of Selectmen, met on a
regular basis to discuss various mutual concerns and issues facing the
residents of the community. It was the committee’s recommendation that we continue having mutual and positive discussions regarding services, performance and
financial impact to the taxpayer.I look forward to continuing the conversation.
